War Games: The UN’s Disarmament Agenda

In the Outback Steakhouse recipe "Bloomin’ Onion,” an onion’s layers are peeled back like flower petals, revealing its center. Likewise, to expose the core of the United Nations’ agenda, it must be peeled back, layer by layer.

This onion’s outer “skin” comprises official U.N. documents, reports, literature and press releases. Some sound positive on their face, even utopian. UNESCO’s motto, for instance, is: “Building peace in the minds of men and women.” This seems in line with last year’s General Assembly Resolution 71/61 on the UN’s role in regional and global disarmament: “To maintain international peace and security and… bring about by peaceful means, in conformity with …justice and international law…settlement of international disputes...as enshrined in the Charter.”

But beneath the vague, high-sounding words, the United Nations and its agencies harbor a hidden agenda. To decipher the difference between what it says and what it does, peel further.

A Disarming Disarmament Agenda

Let’s proceed with the layer beneath the skin. Resolution 71/61 emphasizes ‘multilateral enforcement’ of disarmament as “the key to global peace and harmony”; and, “The United Nations must play the central role” to enforce “arms regulation, nonproliferation and disarmament …under strict international control.” In U.N. speak, globalism—not nationalism—is the “core principle” of its disarmament policy. This resolution is just one example of the UN’s war against sovereign nations, and it has severe implications for Israel and other Western democracies’ sovereignty and defense.

Burrowing deeper, the UN blew a golden opportunity to showcase its global prowess and prove its self-proclaimed authority as world arbiter of peace during Israel’s previous conflicts with the PLO and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Writing for the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Maj.-Gen. (res) Yaakov Amidror recalled how U.N. Secretary-General U Thant endorsed Egyptian President Nasser’s request and withdrew U.N. Emergency Forces from Sinai. Nasser replaced them with Egyptian military divisions, helping spark the Six-Day War.

Later, the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon failed to prevent PLO terrorists from firing on Israel, but it adeptly “interfered with IDF operations.” When Hezbollah attacked Israel from Lebanon, UNIFIL was “more prone to intervene against Israeli self-defense operations” than against “Hezbollah aggression,” he said. Though some chalk up U.N. peacekeeping as “ineffective,” its neutrality is suspect. For 13 years, Hezbollah has violated U.N. Security Council resolutions daily “under the noses of U.N. peacekeepers,” said CNS News’ Patrick Goodenough. U.S. taxpayers shoulder nearly 28.5 percent of the U.N. peacekeeping budget, he said.

Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing

According to former policy analyst Thomas G. Gulick, since 1975, the UN has supported “armed warfare,” with millions of dollars in direct funding and aid to mostly Marxist guerrilla and terrorist groups. Some received U.N. recognition and other perks. The PLO, for example, not only controlled UNRWA refugee camps in Lebanon, but turned them into ‘military bastions.”

More recently, Nahum Bedein’s 2013 documentary exposed UNRWA’s “Camp Jihad,” where young Palestinians learn the “right” of return: to retake villages that no longer exist, now part of Israel. “We teach the children the culture of nakba,” a teacher explains. “Every team is named for a village they left. This will remain embedded in the memory of every child.”

Teachers: “You want to return to Haifa?” Campers: “Yes!” “Jaffa?” “Yes!” “Nazareth? Acre?” “Yes!” “With Allah’s help and our own strength, we will wage war,” a camper proclaims, “and with education and jihad we will return.” UNRWA finances this summer camp—its slogan: “Peace starts here.” A new U.N. resolution pushed by the Palestinians and their allies would force U.S. taxpayers to fund UNRWA, according to The New York Post’s Benny Avni.

But U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley is demanding the UN enforce its own resolutions and mandate, and is mulling cuts to U.S. peacekeeping support. Former U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said America's U.N. contributions should be voluntary, not assessed by U.N. budget committees, Avni reported. Such actions are gravely needed.